One of the definitions of a “junkie” is a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something. For me, that something is history. Thanks to the Internet, I can indulge my passion any time I please. I have a list of sites longer than my arm, but as wonderful as the web can be, nothing replaces an up close look into the past.
My spouse and I have spent many happy days looking for towns
that no longer exist. Some of those towns wind up in stories or blog posts. My
historical wandering brought the White House cookbook from the Lincoln
administration into my possession. A trip to the Walter Reed Medical Center
Museum let me get a good look at the Civil War Union Army Field Surgery Kit.
That piece of history turned up in one of my Nessa Donnelly mysteries. I also
spent a lovely summer researching the history of Kentucky bourbon.
I know history isn’t considered a sexy topic, but it can be.
Lexington, Kentucky has a historic home that was once owned by Mary Todd
Lincoln’s family. The same house was later Jenny Hill’s Bawdyhouse. Belle
Brezing, Lexington’s most famous madam, lived there for a couple of years
before buying her own house.
Still, when I talk about my favorite pastime I get a lot of
eye-rolls. Kids who hated memorizing dates for a history test often grow up to
be adults who think history is boring. Why wouldn’t they? Their only exposure
to history has been a bunch of dull facts delivered by a teacher with no real
interest in the subject.
History, real history, isn’t the dry facts of an event; it is a group of individual stories that narrow an event to only one outcome. History is made up of hundreds of ‘what if’ stories. For instance, would the outcome of WWII have been different if Hitler had not taken a sleeping pill before the Allies landed on Normandy’s beaches? The question opens a whole range of alternate histories. Our reality is that Hitler slept until noon, and Field Marshall Rundstedt did not get the support he requested. The history of the world may have turned on a sleeping pill.
Gwen is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, an active member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and a member of the Derby Rotten Scoundrels Chapter of Sisters in Crime, the Florida Gulf Coast SinC and the online SinC GUPPIES Chapter. Her stories have appeared in anthologies, in webzines, and in micro-fiction collections.
Most interesting fact: Gwen was a brakeman and railroad engineer from 1983 - 1987.
2 comments:
Wish you could teach my grandkids history. Most of them find is boring and are appalled that I am so obsessed with it. Nice post.
When my daughter was young I tried to instill an interest in history by taking her to historical places and touring the Smithsonian. It didn't work. She once told me that what she saw was a bunch of old places full of things she couldn't touch. Many of our history teachers make the same mistake. Kids memorize facts for a test and do their best to forget them when the ordeal is over. They need history they can touch, smell, taste, and they need history to engage their senses and connect to their lives today. Build them a bridge to the past and their natural curiosity will take them across.
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